JPH0120724Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a connector mounting structure for a vehicle lamp that has a simple structure and can be fixed in a minimum installation space.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, in the case of vehicle lamps, a back cover is disposed on the back of the lamp body, and a connector is attached on or inside the back cover. Various connector mounting structures have been proposed in the past, examples of which are known as U.S. Pat. In the former type, the connector is detachably attached to the back cover. Mounting pieces are provided on both sides of the connector, a hook-shaped locking piece is provided on the lamp body, and the locking piece is inserted into the back cover. A stopper piece is provided for holding and fixing the mounting piece of the connector together with the hole and the locking protrusion piece. On the other hand, the latter is designed to be removably fixed along the inner surfaces of the connector and the connector mounting member, and has wings extending outward on both sides of the connector housing, and one of the connector mounting members. Forming a window on which the connecting end surface of the connector is exposed, and extending along another surface having a positional relationship substantially perpendicular to the surface on both sides of this window and being inserted between the other surface. A wing engaging piece is formed with an engaging claw that engages with the wing that is attached to the wing.

However, these conventional connector mounting structures all have wings (mounting pieces in the former case) that protrude on both sides of the connector, so they have the disadvantage that the mounting space in the width direction becomes larger by the size of the wings (mounting pieces in the former). Ta. Furthermore, in the former case, a portion of the cord connecting the connector and the light source protrudes outside the back cover, resulting in an unsightly appearance, and it is necessary to provide a cord insertion hole in the back cover.

[Summary of the idea]

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and is a connector comprising an approximately box-shaped connector housing equipped with connection terminals, an engaging protrusion, and a pair of left and right elastic engaging pieces facing each other. and a back cover disposed on the back of the lamp body and having a connector storage part therein for storing the connector, and a connecting end face of the connector with an external connector is exposed to the outside in the connector storage part. window and
By providing an engagement hole in which the engagement protrusion engages and a pair of engagement parts in which the elastic engagement pieces engage, there is no need for mounting space on both sides of the connector, and the width of the connector mounting part can be reduced. To provide a connector mounting structure for a vehicle lamp, which can minimize the size, prevent the cord from coming out of the back cover, and make the appearance of the lamp body neat.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of the connector mounting structure according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the connector attached to the back cover, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line taken along the line of FIG. 2. In these figures, 1 is a connector, and 2 is a back cover that is removably attached to the back surface of a lamp body (not shown) by an appropriate engagement means. 1 is provided.

The connector 1 has a connector housing 6 which is formed of synthetic resin into a substantially box shape and has a suitable female connection terminal 5 built therein, and the outer end surface of the housing 6 is connected to one end of the connection terminal 5. is exposed to form a connection end surface 6a for connection with a male connector (not shown). On the other hand, a band-shaped flexible cord 7 is provided on the inner end surface 6b of the connector housing 6.
(or a general cord) is connected, and the other end of this cord 7 is connected to a printed circuit board for a light source circuit arranged inside the back cover 2 or a socket (not shown) holding a light bulb. .
The outer end of the connector housing 6 is formed thick so as to protrude rearward from the back surface 6c, and the surface on the connection end surface 6a side is located at the center of the back surface 6c.
A substantially triangular engagement protrusion 8 perpendicular to c is integrally provided, and a pair of left and right elastic engagement protrusions 8 are provided on both sides of the back surface 6c, extending rearward facing each other and provided with an engagement claw 10 on the inner surface of the tip. Joint pieces 9A and 9B are integrally provided in a protruding manner.

The connector storage section 4 is located in the back cover 2.
The connector is provided so as to cover an opening 12 which is formed near one side edge of the back surface 3 and has a width slightly larger than the width dimension of the connector 1. side plate 13A, 1
3B, a front connecting plate 14 that connects the front ends of the side plates 13A and 13B, and the side plates 13A and 1
a tongue-shaped rear connecting plate 15 that connects the rear end side of the tip end of the rear connecting plate 15; and a swash plate 16 that connects the rear end of the rear connecting plate 15 with the rear ends of the pair of left and right side plates 13A, 13B and the back surface 3; The front connecting plate 1
4 and the rear connecting plate 15 are spaced apart in the plate thickness direction by a dimension corresponding to the thickness dimension H of the front end rear side of the connector housing 6. The rear connecting plate 1
An engagement hole 17 consisting of a rectangular through hole is formed in the center of the connecting plate 15 in correspondence with the engagement protrusion 8, and portions on both side edges of the connecting plate 15 corresponding to the elastic engagement pieces 9A and 9B are formed in the center thereof. , these elastic engaging pieces 9A, 9B form engaging portions 18A, 18B that engage with each other. In this case, the engaging portions 18A, 18B are separated from the side plates 13A, 13B because the rear connecting plate 15 is formed into a tongue shape.
The elastic engagement pieces 9A, 19B are provided in the grooves 19A, 19B provided between the side plates 13A, 13B and the elastic engagement pieces 9A, 19B.
is configured to be inserted from inside the back cover 2. and an opening portion of the opening 12 extending forward from the side plates 13A, 13B;
The front opening of the connector storage section 4 constitutes a window 20 through which the connector housing 6 projects to the outside. That is, this window 20 is
This is formed at the joint between the front surface 21 of the connector housing section 4 and the front surface 21 of the connector housing section 4, which has a positional relationship substantially perpendicular thereto. Note that 25A and 25B are reinforcing beats that are continuously provided on the back surface 3, rear connecting plate 5, and swash plate 16 of the back cover 2, and these serve to reinforce the back cover 2 as well as to prevent luggage from entering and exiting the trunk room. This prevents the cargo from directly hitting the connector 1, thereby preventing the connector from falling off.

In such a configuration, attachment of the connector 1 to the back cover 2 is completed by inserting the connector 1 into the interior through the front opening of the cover 2 and storing and fixing it in the connector storage portion 4. In that case, as shown in FIG. 4, the front end of the connector 1, that is, the connection end surface 6a side, is inserted obliquely into the window 20 to protrude outside, and then rotated in the direction of the arrow A, so that the engaging protrusion 8 At the same time, the pair of elastic engagement pieces 9A and 9B are engaged with the grooves 19A and 17, respectively.
19B, and insert the engaging claw 10 into each engaging portion 18.
It is sufficient to engage the outer surfaces of A and 18B (see FIG. 3). As a result, the connector 1 is restricted from moving in the front-rear direction, the width direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 3), and the thickness direction (back cover front-rear direction), and is housed and fixed in the connector storage portion 4. That is, connector 1
The movement in the front-rear direction is caused by the front end surface of the rear connecting plate 15, which is in contact with the step surface 22 provided on the back surface of the connector housing 6, and the front edge of the engagement hole 17, which is engaged with the front surface of the engagement protrusion 8. The movement in the width direction is regulated.
Movement in the thickness direction is restricted by the engagement hole 17 in which the engagement protrusion 8 engages and the engagement portions 18A, 18B in which the elastic engagement pieces 9A, 9B engage.
Elastic engagement pieces 9A, 9B that engage with A, 18B;
Rear surface 3 with which the front end of the connector housing 6 engages
is regulated by the front edge 3a and the front connecting plate 14. Therefore, the male connector can be reliably connected to the connector 1.

According to the connector mounting structure having such a configuration, the engagement protrusion 8 and the pair of elastic engagement pieces 9 provided on the back surface 6c of the connector housing 6
A, 9B are the engagement holes 17 of the rear connecting plate 15 forming the bottom surface of the connector housing 4 and the pair of engagement portions 18
A and 18B, unlike conventional connectors with wings, the space for the wings can be reduced by simply setting the width of the connector housing 4 to be approximately equal to the width of the connector housing 6. There is no need to secure it on both sides of the storage part, and as a result, the back cover 2 can be made smaller. In addition, since the connector 1 is housed and fixed inside the back cover 2 and only its connecting end surface 6a is exposed to the outside, the flexible cord 7
is not visible from the outside, and the back part of the back cover 2 can be made smooth.

In addition, although the connector 1 is shown as a female connector in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a male connector.

Further, in the above embodiment, the rear connecting plate 15 is formed into a tongue shape, and the both side edges thereof are used as engagement portions of the elastic engagement pieces 9A, 9B. 14, and the engaging portions 18A, 18B that the elastic engaging pieces 9A, 9B engage with may be formed of elongated holes.

Further, in the above embodiment, the engaging hole 17 is formed as a transparent hole, but it goes without saying that it may be a blind hole.

[Effect of idea]

As explained above, in the connector mounting structure of the vehicle lamp according to the present invention, the connector is provided with an engaging protrusion and a pair of left and right elastic engaging pieces, and the connector is housed and fixed inside the back cover attached to the back of the lamp body. A connector accommodating part is provided, and the engaging protrusion and the elastic engaging piece of the connector are respectively engaged with the engaging hole and the engaging part provided in the connector accommodating part, and the connecting end surface of the connector with the external connector is connected to the connector. Since it is configured so that it is exposed to the outside through the window provided in the storage section, the connector can be stored and fixed in a predetermined position inside the back cover with a single touch.Not only is installation easy, but the wings that were previously required can be removed. . Therefore, there is no need to provide a space for the wings on both sides of the connector, and the width of the connector mounting portion can be kept to a minimum dimension approximately equal to the width of the connector, making it possible to downsize the back cover. Also,
Since the connector is housed and fixed inside the back cover, the cord does not come out and the appearance is streamlined, which has great practical effects.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing one embodiment of the connector mounting structure according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the connector attached to the back cover, Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 The figure shows the state immediately before the connector is attached to the back cover. 1... Connector, 2... Back cover, 3...
Back, 4...Connector storage area, 5...Connection terminal,
6... Connector housing, 7... Flexible cord, 8... Engaging protrusion, 9A, 9B... Elastic engaging piece, 10... Engaging claw, 12... Opening, 13A,
13B...Side plate, 14...Front connecting plate, 15...
Rear connecting plate, 17...Engagement hole, 18A, 18B...
...Engaging portion, 19A, 19B...Groove, 20...Window.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] The connector has an approximately box-shaped connector housing equipped with connection terminals, an engaging protrusion, and a pair of left and right elastic engaging pieces facing each other, and a connector housing for positioning and storing the connector. and a back cover disposed on the back side of the lamp body, and the connector storage portion includes a window that exposes the connection end surface of the connector with the external connector to the outside, and an engagement hole that engages with the engagement protrusion. . A connector mounting structure for a vehicle lamp, characterized in that the elastic engagement pieces each include a pair of engagement portions that engage with each other.